Lunchbox Laboratory

May 12, 2008

This portable laboratory tests algae for its ability to produce hydrogen and could
one day be distributed to high schools across the country.

The Lunchbox Laboratory is a portable box outfitted with all the research tools that
high school students need to screen algae strains for their ability to produce hydrogen.

It was carefully conceived and built by Jonathan Meuser, a former NREL summer intern
with the Chemical and Biosciences Center, and Futurefarmers, a San Francisco-based art collective.

"We thought it would be inspiring," Meuser said. "The students would be able to make
a contribution to science through their course work."

As a fuel, hydrogen is a promising, long-term renewable option where the only byproduct
is water vapor. Through a photobiological process, the enzymes in certain microalgae
use photosynthesis to split water, and under some conditions naturally make hydrogen.
However, the process is slow and scientists are searching for other naturally occurring
microbes that produce hydrogen at higher rates.

Students Can Do Real Science

With thousands of algae species in the world, most untested for their hydrogen-producing
abilities, the students' work with the Lunchbox Lab could serve as a preliminary screening
to rule out nonproductive strains. This could help ensure that only productive strains
reach laboratories.

The lunchbox would turn thousands of students loose to help solve the nation's energy
challenges while promoting networking and collaboration with other students nationwide.
The lab's educational potential has already prompted teachers to call NREL about obtaining
the box.

How the Lunchbox Works

The Lunchbox Laboratory contains algae samples, custom-designed glass beakers, an
LED light source, an embedded pressure sensor to control the light, and a bioreactor.
The glass beakers sit in holes so that the bottom half of the beakers remain in darkness,
leaving the top visible to allow for algae sample injections.

Once the algae samples are in place, air-tight stoppers seal the beakers. The stoppers,
equipped with chemochromic hydrogen sensors developed at NREL, turn blue when hydrogen
is produced after the algae are exposed to light.

By using the embedded pressure sensor, the box allows the algae to be exposed to varying
amounts of light and different periods of darkness, permitting comparisons between
varieties of experimental conditions.

The Lunchbox Laboratory Idea

Meuser began the project as an intern when Futurefarmers contacted NREL about building
a do-it-yourself algae-hydrogen reactor. The artists wanted something that looked
intriguing and engaging for entry into the Design and the Elastic Mind Exhibit at
the Museum of Modern Art.

Design and the Elastic Mind is a museum exhibition that focuses on the ability of
designers to grasp advances in technology, science and human behavior and convert
those technical advances into objects and systems that people can understand and use.

Meuser, now a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Science and Engineering Department
at the Colorado School of Mines, pushed the sensory development, enabling Lunchbox
Laboratory to detect hydrogen. Amy Franceschini and Michael Swain of Futurefarmers
did the majority of the visual design and construction on the prototype.